14 June, 2010

Microsoft Press Conference and Games I'll Be Watching

written by Blain Newport on Monday, 14 June, 2010

Microsoft Press ConferenceMicrosoft did indeed, fail to show any application for their motion control (now called Kinect) that would interest core gamers. You may remember from my motion control post from last October that I thought they would include head tracking or some other incremental improvement to core games that would make the hardcore buy it to maintain their edge in multiplayer. They didn't. (UPDATE: Apparently they did announce head tracking in an upcoming racing game (Forza).) I suspect this means failure on a large scale as they try to capture the Wii market with devices that will likely cost twice as much. Microsoft isn't even discussing price yet.

To tide me over while waiting to see what Nintendo and Sony have to show us tomorrow, I've been thinking about what games I'm interested to see more about.

Yes

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - I liked Deus Ex. I even liked the sequel (if only because the guards were fun to mess with). If this game does nothing more than gives me AIs that are fun to grief, I will enjoy it thoroughly.

Fallout: New Vegas - If you read this blog, you know I have loved me some Fallout 3. A new world to explore sounds peachy. Having it be the ruins of atomic age Las Vegas has a lot of potential, too. I'm already considering a character based on Sammy Davis Jr.

Maybe

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 - Who's writing it? Can they keep the mechanics feeling fresh when it will likely be the same gadgets?

Brink - These guys made the Enemy Territory games which get played at Matthew's LAN parties, so hopefully they can keep us entertained. There better be some hands-on.

Bulletstorm - Oy. The game mechanics look fun. But the writing is embarrassing. I don't mind vulgarity, but it's so random and unfunny in Bulletstorm. "You scared the #*@& off me!" Are these just bad translations from Polish?

Crysis 2 - It's in New York instead of a jungle, but the storytelling still looks very broad and disposable.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned - I'm not really a Pirates fan. I only watched the first movie. But I've heard you can do some strange stuff in this game. Defacing an idol to make it look like yourself so that the villagers worship you sounds like a fun, silly thing to do. If the rest of the game has that much character, it could be a good time.

Rage - It's id. They made DooM. You can call them old and irrelevant, but I'm old and irrelevant, so I still care.

XCom - When you take a beloved turn based strategy game and turn it into a first person shooter, people are going to accuse you of abusing the name, selling out, etc. Whether it succeeds or fails, there'll almost certainly be some lessons to learn out of what happens with XCom.

Uhhhh...

Bodycount - The designer is the same guy who designed Black, which was pretty but poorly paced and not very dynamic in play. The same thing with even shinier graphics does not appeal.

Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 - It's another side scrolling Bionic Commando game. I feel like I ought to be interested in where they take the game. I ought to be interested in the co-op. But I'm currently playing GunGirl 2 and feel like action platformers are kind of tapped out.

Dead Rising 2 - The save structure is still broken, so I have a hard time mustering any enthusiasm for the co-op zombie slaying on offer.

Dead Space 2 - It looks like the first game, which always felt pretty plodding to me.

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars - Batman and Indy weren't nearly as enjoyable for me as the other LEGO Star Wars games. Part of me thinks this franchise lost me already. Part of me thinks that if they bring back the formula from the first games, this could be worth playing.

Spec Ops: The Line - All I've heard about this game so far is that it's a gritty, morally suspect, modern military shooter, which in my mind translates to, "This game has no hook." I probably wouldn't care at all, but Greg Kasavin, who worked at GameSpot when I watched GameSpot, is working on the game in some capacity.